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November 11, 2013

After telling us throughout the
first six months of 2009 that Iran is not totalitarian, i.e., until his bubble
was burst when Supreme Leader Khamenei savagely quashed Iran's Green
Revolution, Roger Cohen is again seeking to spread his delusional hogwash. In
his latestNew York Timesop-ed entitled "Bibi’s Tired
Iranian Lines" (link),
Cohen, who doesn't speak Farsi, would have us know:

"It is not just that the world has now heard from Netanyahu
of the imminent danger of a nuclear-armed Iran for a very long time. It is not
just that Israel has set countless 'red lines' that proved permeable. It is not
just that the Islamic Republic has been an island of stability compared to its
neighbors Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. It is not just that, as Rouhani’s
election shows, Iran is no Nazi-like totalitarian state with a single authority
but an authoritarian regime subject to liberalizing and repressive waves."

Iran is an "island of stability"? And just what was the Green
Revolution all about? Has Cohen already forgotten the death of Neda, who
was shot dead by a Basij militia member?

"Please accept the greetings of this humble imprisoned
cleric, who writes to convey himself to you from within a prison cell which is
surrounded by a cruelty and brutality called religion and faith. It is many
years that the hands of the claimants of Islam have captured me and held me
hostage. They have wasted my youth, my life and health, and now, as you come together for this
global event, in order to inform each other of the hidden pains and concerns of
each others communities, it is apt that you should focus on the ills that
invade the contemporary world and the abused rights of the innocent and
helpless.

I sit here, at the start of my eighth year of captivity; jailed by a religious
dictatorship and charged with defending the freedom of though, speech and
expression and refusing to align with tyrants who forcibly lord over Iran.I am under severe psychological and fatal physical pressures, while
millions of my fellow compatriots live in the most horrific conditions,
oppressed and violated, throughout Iran.

I have been honored to act as an advocate who echoes the public
protests against the ruling phalanx of autocrats. Has the time not come, for
your assembly to demand that thesebrutal totalitariansrespond to how they dare to speak of Bahrain, Syria and
Palestine, under the guise of sympathy, when they have plundered and stolen the
wealth and national income of every Iranian, rendering them impoverished and
putting them in the ultimate financial and economic crisis?

If the humanitarian authorities of other countries are truly sensitive and
serious about affording people around the world, their civil rights, and they
really listened and heard the cries emanating from our country, these dictators
would never dare to continue their shameless violations and their blatant
rampage to destroy Iran and Iranians to the alter of their despotism.This regime’s steely guards do not permit one iota of criticism and
protest by the average person who is in desperate need.

The Iran that has been endowed with the greatest natural and
national wealth has been fleeced and is now wanting for even a normal life. If
you were really aware of the statistics of our destitute and deprived, you
would not hesitate to intervene. It has been thirty five years that this so-called
revolution, was established in this strip of Asia and despite all the grand
vows that were made by its founder,nothing but pain, chaos, crisis and suffering has become
the daily norm of our people’s lives.

I plead with all my being, from each and every one of you
to focus your gaze on that which goes on inside Iran and scrutinize the actions
and blatant human and civil rights violations of this regime."